lizbee | Avatar: the Legend of Mary Sue

Good news, everyone! The long wait is over. On account of how Korra can walk and chew gum at the same time, she has at least been proclaimed a Mary Sue! Did we have some kind of betting pool for this, or was it just taken as a given that it would happen before the series aired?

Current Mood: excited
Crossposts: http://lizbee.livejournal.com/1223675.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

tree_and_leaf

Well, the OP can't use the spell-check (awesume?), so I suppose it's unsurprising she mistakes competence for Mary Sueishness.

(Likelihood that I now make an embarrassing typo in the immediate future and hit post before noticing? HIGH.)

From:

lizbee

She also attempts to defend the movie, so I knew pretty soon it wasn't going to be a credible argument. BUT STILL, THE FIRST! That deserves recognition!

From:

arch

I had blocked the movie so completely from my mind that when I saw her mention a movie I was like, "Wait, what? Does she mean the series finale? What movie?! Is there Avatar that I haven't SEEN?!" and then my disappointment was SO PROFOUND.

From:

archangelbeth

*laugh* I had a brief moment of disorientation, too!

I pull out Seanan McGuire's definition of a Mary Sue -- an insert who warps the plot around herself like a black hole. If there's no insert, there's no Mary Sue, QED.

Besides, the women of the Avatar universe have always been (or become) awesome in some way or other. A female Avatar is BY DEFINITION going to be TOTALLY BADASS from day one! I'm just hoping my screen won't explode from the AWESOME. O:D

From:

copracat

LOL at inability to discriminate between 'Mary Sue' and 'heroine of the story'.

Actually, no, I'm making it too complex. Mary Sue was ALWAYS the heroine of the story. That was the problem.

From:

such_heights

Mary Sue was ALWAYS the heroine of the story. That was the problem.

Boom. This.

From:

lizbee

*applauds*

From:

sohotrightnow

First I was agreeing really hard with your comment and then I saw you had an Eastwick icon and I HAD to leave a textual high-five rather than just agreeing silently in a corner. HIGH FIVE. _o/\o_

From:

such_heights

...

/o\

From:

frabjous

lolwhut

From:

unjapanologist

One of the reasons she might be a Mary Sue is that she doesn't look very stereotypically feminine? Am I misreading that?

From:

lizbee

Apparently! Or at least, her alleged lack of breasts (...there is no way to say this without sounding pervy, so I'm not going to try: now that we've seen her from the front, I'd have to say she has a very nice figure. OH GOD, I AM GOING TO PERVING-ON-CARTOON-TEENAGE-GIRL-HELL.) make her an inferior character?

Come to think of it, I've seen the same argument about Mai from Zutara shippers. There's an interesting sociological study to be conducted here.

From:

unjapanologist

OH GOD, I AM GOING TO PERVING-ON-CARTOON-TEENAGE-GIRL-HELL

That's okay, we'll get a group discount and that includes our own private circle and complementary fruity drinks! I could look at Korra until my eyes fall out of my face. Unf.

Mai, alleged lack of breasts? The only time we see her out of her layers is in The Beach. Only one of the characters in this picture has smallish breasts, and it's not Mai.

*crosses "spend fifteen minutes selecting good boob shots from piandao.org" off daily to-do list*

From:

lizbee

That's okay, we'll get a group discount and that includes our own private circle and complementary fruity drinks! I could look at Korra until my eyes fall out of my face. Unf.

ALSO, she is a year older than Zuko, and we've perved at him plenty of times. LET US STEP AWAY FROM THE DOUBLE STANDARD. And perve.

Mai, alleged lack of breasts? The only time we see her out of her layers is in The Beach. Only one of the characters in this picture has smallish breasts, and it's not Mai.

Poor Zuko. His manboobs are insufficient.

From:

unjapanologist

*starts sewing "let us perve" flags in time for Korra premiere*

Poor Zuko. His manboobs are insufficient.

Azula always does everything better than him, dammit.

On the other hand, Zuko is still young. Some more training and maturation, and I'm sure he'll have the family manboobs in another ten years or so.

From:

holyschist

Seriously, women with actual muscle definition are so rare in media, I do a little happy cheer every time I see one.

From:

silverhare

Lolwut. The best part for me was the bit about her chest.

From:

trouble

Oh dear.

From:

amaresu

*facepalm* Knew it would happen. Doesn't make it any less stupid.

From:

terajk

....

WRT Korra being a Mary Sue because she's already learned the other three elements by the time the story starts: wouldn't the Avatar be more of a Mary Sue if they mastered all four elements in a ridiculously short period of time? Like a matter of months? Before they were even old enough to be told they were the Avatar?

Not that I think Aang is a Mary Sue. /obligatory disclaimer.

From:

lizbee

ZING.

From:

skipthedemon

Oh noes, she knows 3/4ths of the technical skills she knows she needs as a base minimum to do her job/cosmic role! This is preposterous, even though she's older than the previous Avatar when he mastered all four bending techniques!

I'm a bit amazed at the assumption that because a lot of Aang's arc was about learning bending, that means hers should be as well.

From:

lizbee

Yeah, it's unspeakably awful!

I like that Korra's arc is going to be different, and that she's obviously never encountered self-doubt in her life.

From:

nonelvis

I'm just hoping this is some half-assed trolling, because it's better than the more logical explanation.

From:

umadoshi

Oh, people. >.< (I say this a lot. It makes me sad. And misanthropic.)

From:

delphi

*sighs* As soon as I saw the new video, I knew this was going to happen. If Korra were a boy, the reaction would be, "Hey, I see how they're trying to make him a very different character from Aang—someone who discovered his powers early in life and is very confident in them. I wonder if that's going to be shaken down the line with this whole anti-bender storyline."

From:

delphi

Also, I have now officially seen three separate comments on the fact that little Korra is "fat."

From:

lizbee

SERIOUSLY?

I mean, what?

I love how Korra has never met self-doubt in her life.

From:

recessional

THERE IS LITTLE IN THE WORLD AS ADORABLE AS LITTLE KORRA'S TUMMY. FACT.

From:

delphi

Fact. It is completely raspberry-able. Although I bet anyone who tries it gets their hair set on fire.

From:

recessional

I am afraid I would fail at taking her seriously as the Avatar because I would be like "YOU HAVE A TUMMY!" and she would, indeed, set my hair on fire.